Al- Mutanabbi

Mutanabbi, Al-

A descendant of a southern Arabian tribe, al-Mutanabbi learned bedouin ethical and aesthetic traditions. He grew up and lived amid the social instability and ethnopolitical dissension of the feudally divided caliphate. Gifted and ambitious, al-Mutanabbi became a professional wandering poet at the age of 12. He dedicated odes to important personages, gradually gaining recognition and establishing himself at the courts of the emirs of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. He achieved his greatest success and glory at Aleppo (Halab; 948–957) during the rule of Sayf al-Dawlah. He was murdered in revenge for some satirical verses.

Al-Mutanabbi’s legacy comprises more than 100 odes (qasidas) and up to 200 short poems and fragments. Among the factors that made al-Mutanabbi a popular poet in the Arab world were the restless and freedom-loving spirit of his lyrical hero, with his excessive pride and self-abasement; the contrasting alternation of moods and feelings and of philosophical and lyrical reflections expressed in laconic maxims and aphorisms; the secular orientation of his poetry; his Arab-bedouin patriotism; his rich language and energetic rhythm; and his innovations in the qasida verse form and in epithets and metaphors. Al-Mutanabbi also influenced Persian poetry.

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